Jade, from Tiverton, Devon, told the Mirror: “I was in the pool and this woman, who must’ve been in her 50s, came over to me and said ‘do you think that’s appropriate for the pool?’, pointing towards my bag.

“I think I was just stunned so I didn't reply and then she said, ‘well you know that shouldn’t be on show in pool? It’s not very nice for young children to see’.”

“She then went off to get the lifeguard, who came over and told me, ‘I’m sorry I have to say something because we’ve had a complaint.'

"But she was really nice and said 'don’t take any notice and just go about your swim as you were’

“I stayed in a little bit longer but it started to get really uncomfortable because the woman kept swimming past and tutting at me."

Jade was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis seven years ago.

The incurable condition causes inflammation of the inner lining of the colon and rectum, and left her doubled over in agony and rushing to the toilet.

After years of agonising pain and carrying round a bucket, change of clothes and wet wipes every day she had her large bowel removed.

It's estimated that around 1 in every 420 people living in the UK has ulcerative colitis; this amounts to around 146,000 people.
The condition can develop at any age, but is most often diagnosed in people from 15 to 25 years old.

Brave Jade’s entire large intestine was removed and the end of her small intestine brought out through an opening in the wall of her abdomen on May 5. A bag, known as an ileostomy or stoma, was fitted onto the opening to collect waste.

"The operation has completely changed my life - I used to carry around a change of clothes, a bucket and wet wipes everywhere I went.

"But the bag has given me my life back and one of the first things I wanted to do was to get a membership at my local leisure centre so I could start putting some weight on as I'd dropped to five and a half stone."

And despite one woman’s attempt to body-shame her Jade says she refuses to be forced to hide the device that saves her life on a daily basis.

She added: "That lady has no idea what I've been through for the last seven years," she said.

"Luckily for me I love my bag and I love my body. It looks after me everyday, it fights infection it keeps my heart racing and my blood pumping.

"So whatever anyone may think of me it will never affect me."

Plucky Jade started feeling ill at college aged 17, but put her pain down a stomach bug.

The youngster was forced to call in sick at college and her part-time job after several embarrassing “accidents” because she couldn’t get to the loo in time.

But after two weeks of suffering she realised her pain was no ordinary infection. She went to her doctor who thought she’d caught something on holiday, but she hadn’t been abroad for six months.

Jade said: “At first I was made to starve myself for a week and he said come back if I still had the same symptoms, which I did, and when I went back he said I had gastroenteritis, so I was given diarrhoea tablets.

“By this point I’d missed four weeks of college and lost a stone and a half, but then I started passing blood and was in agony.

“My mum took me to the doctors again and I was being palmed off so she called my dad who came up and refused to leave until something was done.”

She saw another GP and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, where she finally saw a specialist.

She added: “My mum was so upset and she must’ve looked up my symptoms online and said to me that I needed to prepare myself for something serious because it might be bowel cancer.

“I was 17 and thinking ‘I’m going to die’. A few weeks ago I’d been at college enjoying myself and there I was lying in a hospital bed thinking I’m dying.”

Doctors then tried to carry out a colonoscopy to check for ulcers, tumours or bleeding but her bowel was too inflamed. The procedure involves using a thin flexible tube called a colonoscope to look at the inner lining of your large intestine.

She explained: “The ulcers were so horrific and they didn’t want to damage it.

Later on a lady doctor came in my room and told me I had ulcerative colitis and I had no idea what it was, so I was like ‘I’ve got a disease? Where did I catch that from?'

“And my mum just looked at me really disappointedly because she was thinking it was some sort of sexually transmitted infection.”

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'I HAD TO FIGHT'

Since her diagnosis Jade spent years in and out of hospital and taking steroid medication in an attempt to calm her condition, once even needing oxygen after an adverse reaction to treatment.

She was drip-fed as her weight plummeted to a shocking five and a half stone, forcing her to wear children's bras and leaving her struggling to come to terms with her condition.

Over the years doctors tried to help her with different drugs, injections, and even placebo medication, but nothing could stop her pain as her life completely changed.

She added “I had to drop out of college - it ruined everything.

I also had to try and explain to my boss in Tesco about my condition and it was probably the most embarrassing thing of all.

“He was an older man and I was a young girl telling him that I couldn’t control when I needed the toilet.”

When she was asked whether she had considered surgery as a last resort, Jade jumped at the chance to get her life back. She and her husband, Will, had been considering the extreme treatment for months.

She said: Will and I had been talking about it for a long time before then and I would ask him what he would think if I had a bag, because it’s not the most attractive thing.

“He was like, ‘you’ve lost so much weight’ - I was five and a half stone and wearing children’s bras - and agreed I should go ahead with it.

“So earlier this year I called the hospital and spoke to a nurse and just told her I couldn’t go on any longer, I wanted the operation.

“Within a few days I had a meeting with the surgeon about what the operation would entail and how the bag would work and before I knew it, a few weeks later, I had the surgery.”

Luckily for me I love my bag and I love my body. It looks after me everyday, it fights infection it keeps my heart racing and my blood pumping. So whatever anyone may think of me it will never affect me.

Jade Hughes

Jade needs another operation in the future but is holding off as it could affect her and Will, 24, starting a family.

She explained: “I need to have a second operation to have my rectum removed because that still gets affected by ulcers, but the surgeons say they don’t want to do that just yet as it can affect my chances of having children in the future - so I will need to have that operation when I’m ready.”

Despite her surgery being reversible Jade has no plans to go back to how her life was before.

She continued: “It’s changed my life so much in the three months since the operation, it’s mental.

“We went to Total Wipeout recently, that’s something I would never have been able to do before.

"Even going for a walk I would need to take a change of clothes, a bucket and some wet wipes just in case."

Her family and Will, who she wed last July, have been with her all the way as she continues to battle the disease.

She added: “Will has had to deal with so much but he’s been so supportive. He’s just amazing.

“The amount of times we’ve been out in public and he’s had to pull over so I could go to the toilet in a field.

“The pain you get with it is really bad and you can wake up in the middle of the night screaming in pain and he would be there for me.”

Now Jade uses social media to inspire other girls not to be ashamed of her bodies.

After the body-shaming incident three weeks ago she posted: “One thing I've learned today is people will always judge you, always drag you down when you’re starting to feel really good about yourself. Luckily for me I love my bag, I love my body! I am in love with my body! It looks after me every day; it fights infection it keeps my heart racing and my blood pumping! So whatever anyone may think of me it will never affect me. Ladies love your body! Fat, thin, scars, stretch marks, S*** BAGS! Love your fricken body!"

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